It’s purple, small and round, grows in the Amazon and is an example of Brasil’s continuing trouble with resource sustainability in regards to fairness to the economic system, small farmers and the environment.
The açaí berry from the açaí palm tree is a fast-growing staple of Brasilian exports to countries like the United States where it is used in beverages and hyped as a “superfood” stuffed with antioxidants. There is no actual evidence, such as review by the FDA, that it harbors such massive amounts of nutrients.
In her presentation “The Forest for Who?” the director of the Museu Paraense Emilio Goelde in Belém, Pará, Brasil, Ima Vieira, an ecologist with a specialty in degradation, cited the recent influx of açaí as “a management opportunity to produce without destroying.”
Because of the berries popularity as an export the price for rich berry has been increasing. Vieira said before it became a celebrity, for one liter it cost local Brasilians 1-2 reais, which is equivalent to 50 cents to $1 in the U.S.
Now for the same amount it costs 10 reais for locals, or about five U.S. dollars.
The berry production going international has also encouraged deforestation, an already hot topic in a timber and mining-reliant nation. Instead of farmers managing a diverse area of vegetation per one hectare, Vieira said farmers are clearing any land below the palm tree so all of the soil’s nutrients are driven to the açaí — an economic encouragement for farmers to maintain one type of tree per hectare, thus decreasing the biodiversity as well.
According to a March 2009 New York Times article, 53 new food and drink açaí products were launched in the U.S. in 2008, where it was only four products in 2004. The article also states that according to Spins, a market researcher specializing in natural products, açaí-product sales exceeded $106 million in 2008.
The açaí berry from the açaí palm tree is a fast-growing staple of Brasilian exports to countries like the United States where it is used in beverages and hyped as a “superfood” stuffed with antioxidants. There is no actual evidence, such as review by the FDA, that it harbors such massive amounts of nutrients.
In her presentation “The Forest for Who?” the director of the Museu Paraense Emilio Goelde in Belém, Pará, Brasil, Ima Vieira, an ecologist with a specialty in degradation, cited the recent influx of açaí as “a management opportunity to produce without destroying.”
Because of the berries popularity as an export the price for rich berry has been increasing. Vieira said before it became a celebrity, for one liter it cost local Brasilians 1-2 reais, which is equivalent to 50 cents to $1 in the U.S.
Now for the same amount it costs 10 reais for locals, or about five U.S. dollars.
The berry production going international has also encouraged deforestation, an already hot topic in a timber and mining-reliant nation. Instead of farmers managing a diverse area of vegetation per one hectare, Vieira said farmers are clearing any land below the palm tree so all of the soil’s nutrients are driven to the açaí — an economic encouragement for farmers to maintain one type of tree per hectare, thus decreasing the biodiversity as well.
According to a March 2009 New York Times article, 53 new food and drink açaí products were launched in the U.S. in 2008, where it was only four products in 2004. The article also states that according to Spins, a market researcher specializing in natural products, açaí-product sales exceeded $106 million in 2008.
While the government requires users of the land to use only 20 percent of their allotted land and to keep the other 80 percent as a conservation unit, most farmers, Vieira said, do not follow this regulation for any resource harvesting. While the state of Pará, for example, has enforced fines and the threat of jail for over-deforestation, it is not easily regulated. Municipal governments are said to look the other way in some cases because of the economic benefits harvesting the land can have for a community.
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